Catholic missions

Catholic missions are religious outposts established by the Roman Catholic Church to spread Christianity, typically in regions where the faith was not yet dominant.

From the 16th century onward, missionaries—often Franciscans, Jesuits, or Dominicans—founded missions throughout the Americas, Asia, and Africa, combining evangelization with education and sometimes colonial administration.

In the American Southwest, the California missions became particularly well-known as centers of conversion and agricultural development.

The old Catholic mission has been restored as a historic site.